Opportunities
Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
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Varies by program — WCW: non-financial support; Afrishela: equity investments in $500K-$2M range
The Graça Machel Trust supports women's empowerment across Africa through multiple programs: the Women Creating Wealth (WCW) program provides entrepreneurial skills training and coaching, while the Afrishela Investment Fund ($30M) makes equity investments in women-led businesses. The Trust also operates the New Faces New Voices network advocating for women's financial inclusion.
Women Creating Wealth: 6-month sprint building entrepreneurial foundation + 3-month personalized technical coaching for business scaling
Afrishela Investment Fund: equity investment for women-led early-growth businesses
Access to networks across 20 African countries through New Faces New Voices (NFNV)
Financial linkages facilitation between investors and women entrepreneurs
Advocacy for policy and legislative changes supporting women-owned businesses
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Entrepreneurial skills, confidence building, and business scaling support for women entrepreneurs
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$30M Pan-African impact investment vehicle targeting women-owned early-growth businesses with gender and climate lens
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Network advocating for women's access to finance and policy change across 20 African countries
Women entrepreneurs and women-led enterprises in agriculture, financial services, healthcare, and logistics. The Trust focuses on transitioning women from income generation to wealth creation, with a strong gender lens across all programs.
Technical coaching, network access across 20 countries, investor linkages, advocacy support, peer learning community
WCW applications are periodic, not always open. Afrishela is an investment fund with its own criteria separate from grants. Verify which program is currently accepting applications.
The Trust's strength is its network — being selected opens doors to 20+ country networks and investor connections. WCW alumni get personalized 3-month coaching for business scaling. Afrishela made its first capital deployments in January 2026 in healthcare and logistics.
2010
Active Since
Yes
Deploying
Afrishela facilitated $2M+ in financial linkages across six African markets; Visa Foundation partnership reached 100 women-led SMBs in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa